Hi- new piggie owner here. We collected 2 female piggies from a garden centre yesterday.
They seemed bright and active when we saw them.
We’ve placed them in their new enclosure- 5x2 c&c which is indoors and both of them are at separate ends - one hid in hay and the other hid under a Bath mat.
Neither one has come out to explore. I have seen both eat hay but neither one has eaten any pellets/vegetables and I haven’t seen either one drink anything.
Is this normal?
One of them has a gunky eye which I have bathed. I have a vet appointment book for tomorrow morning. The vet said bring both and she’ll check both of them.
Should I be concerned that neither one has come out of hiding and hasn’t drank anything?
I’ve got water bottles and bowls.
I’ve also tried tempting them with veg but they don’t want to know.
They seem so frightened!
Sorry if this is basic stuff but I’ve never owned any type of rodent before and just want to do the right thing.
Hi and welcome
I am very sorry that it is a less than ideal start. Please open an ongoing support thread in our specially monitored health/illness section for help and how-to tips in terms of medication and any questions along the way. We are a friendly forum and will help you all along the way.
The poor girl has either got a hay poke in her eye if the gunk is greyish/bluish from an ulcerating infection) or an untreated upper respiratory infection if the gunk is green/yellow or orange tinged. Good that are seeing a vet tomorrow. Eye infections can deteriorate rather quickly. The sooner they are treated, the easier the recovery.
You may want to order some plain viscotears or a similar brand of carbomer based tear gel now (there is not much between the various brands). It is not a medication but the extra hydration helps majorly with keeping the eye hydrated and by creating an ideal healing environment deeper in the eye, helps to speed up the recovery. Gel is much easier to apply than drops; it is also longer lasting and more effective and worth having at home at all time. Hay pokes do happen since hay makes over three quarters of the daily food intake.
It is perfectly normal for new piggies to not come out. Please peg a sheet over the cage and leave them be. They will move when they feel secure and unobserved.
Please take the time to read this very practical and helpful guide here into which literally tens of thousands of forum questions have gone:
Intro
1 What to do on arrival at home
- A welcome in piggy language
- Health check, sexing and weighing
- Quarantine or not if you have other guinea pigs?
2 Helping your guinea pigs to settle in
- Some practical tips for settling in new guinea pigs
- Avoiding predatory behaviours
- Skittish or ill?
- Group establishment and dominance
3 Handling and human...
This is how arrival in a new home looks for guinea pigs:
Arrival from the view of guinea pigs
This text is part of an article I have written for Guinea Pig Magazine issue 47 (November 2018).
It is the propriety of GPM and is being shared on here with the magazine's permission. Guinea Pig Mag
Guinea pigs are most often seen as cuddly pets and as a living extension of our human desires and expectations.
This can cause problems because guinea pigs are prey animals whose instincts are still intact even after thousands of years of domestication and they are also highly social animals with their own...
Here is our guide to common pitfalls with new guinea pigs and your customer rights:
1 Double-checking the gender upon arrival
- Sexing
- Pregnancies and surprise babies
2 When to quarantine new companions?
3 Vet visits
- Health check/registration upon arrival
- Reclaiming vet cost for newly bought ill guinea pigs
4 Common illnesses in new guinea pigs
- Ringworm
- Respiratory infection (URI)
5 List of guinea pig...
You may want to bookmark this link here, browse, read and re-read at need since you will pick up on different aspects at different levels of experience. It is the access to our New Owners very helpful practical information collection in terms of care, behaviours and learning what is normal and not, including a useful little course in piggy whispering:
Contents Overview
1 What This Collection Is About
2 Guinea Pigs as Pets
- Family and Classroom Pets
- Sourcing Your Guinea Pigs, Common Pitfalls and Your Customer Rights
- Pet Owners with Anxiety: Practical Tips for Sufferers and Supporters
- Naming your Guinea Pigs and Finding Out the Breed
- Guinea Pigs as a Species: Facts, Development and Social Aspects...
It is admittedly a bit more of a steep learning curve for you right now but you will get there, I promise.
